Skin or hide stretcher



Patented Aug, 14, 1923..

finnirsn stares Enos r. HAYWARD, or oonovnn, Wisconsin, assrenoa OFGNE-I-IALF ro nosenazrn, or oonovnn, Wi consin. I

1 re a) m t te SKIN R HIDE STBETCHER.

' Application lednarch 22, 1922 Serial to. 545,752.

To all whom it may concern: I V

Be it knownthat LE os F. Hartman, a citizen of the United States, residing .at 'Conover, in the countyof Vilas and tate of li isconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Skin or Hide Stretchers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. v p *Heretofore metal skeleton stretcher-s have been used for stretching skins and hides, therefore involving no means for adjustment, or for varying the size of the stretcher, inorderto permit different ize skins or hides'to be stretched In these stretchers there is no way for increasing the size to any great degree, and also no means for attaching the skins or hides to the stretcher, in order that the skin can be stretched a Y lt'is the purpose of the presentinvention to provide a stretcher for skins and hides, and one which is very simple, efficient and practical in construction, and capable of overcoming'the above inconveniences and disadvantages."

it is another purpose to provide a stretcher, which is capableof adjustment to fit and stretchany size animal skin or hide.

In order to accomplish this result it is the-aim to provide a stretcher comprising a plurality of removable sections,a body section, (which may consist of more than one piece), and two side sections, and which are tapered, so that the central body section may be removed by imparting to it movement in one direction, or either'ofthe side sections may be removed by imparting to itmovement in the opposite direction, or in the same direction as the movement imparted to the central body section.

lt is still another purpose to provide a stretcher which maybe constructed of any suitable wood, fibre or the like, and which has the special advantage over the .metal stretchers, in that the central front portion. the central back portion, or the tail-piece of the hide or skin may be stretched taut and tacked or otherwise fastened to the stretcher, whereas in using the metal stretchers, the skin or hide cannot be tacked or otherwise similarly fastened in any location. In order to fasten the skin'or hide to the metal stretchers it will'be necessary to provide special fasteners or attaching de vices, and in this case, unless the attaching or fastening devicesare adjustable, the hide or skin cannot be fastened in anyllocation. Obviously a metal stretcher with compli cated fasteners or attaching devices would be very expensive,whereas a wood or fibre stretcher can be very easily and cheaply constructed, and sold reasonably.

While the design and construction at present.illustrated and set forth are deemed preferable, it'is obvious that as a result of a reduction of the invcntlon to a more practical form for commercial purposes, the

Figure l is a view of the stretcher show-' ing the hide applied, and illustrating the back thereof, and wherein thestretcher is composed of three sections;v

li igure 2 is a view in elevation of the stretcher, wherein the stretcher is composed of four sections, butshowing the stretcher Jractically the same size as the stretcher in nigure 1, and showing the hide applied, illustrating the belly portion thereof Figure 3 is a view of a modified form of stretcher, wherein the main portion of the stretcher i composed of three sections as in Figure l, and illustrating semi-circular sections connectedto the remote outer edges of the outer sections ofthe main body, whereby beaver skins or hides may be stretched. in circular shape;

Figure at is a view of a modified form of stretcher, wherein angular extra sections are attached or connected to the remoteouter edges of the main body, whereby a hide may be stretched in rectangular form;

l igure 5 is a sectional view on line 55 ofFigure l;

Figure 6 is a sectional view on line 6-6 of Figure 2 Figure 7 is an enlarged detail view in eleat-ion of the sections 2, 3 and a, which are shown in Figure 2; and

Figure 8 i ahsectional view on line 8-8 of Figure 3.

Referring to the drawings, especlally Figures 2 and '6, 1i designates the stretcher as a whole, and which comprises a central body section 2, and the two side sections 3. It

will be noted that thecentral body section ures 1 and 4 the central bodysection may;

consist of one'piece. The stretcher may be".i 'constructe ft of any suitable material',.

such as wood of any kind, fibre or the like, In Figures 2. and "6 the innermost central body part istapered as shown, and hasv its side edgesprovided with doveta led grooves 55, which receive the. correspondingly shaped tongues" 6 of the sections l. The opposite edges of the sections 4 have dovetailed i 7 i -1 tongues which enter the conespondlngly shaped grooves 8 01 the outermost sections 3. His obvious that the arrangement of the tongues: and grooves of the various section maybetransposed. In other words the central part of the body section may have tongues instead ofigrooves, while the sections l may have grooves instead of tongues, whereas the outermost sections 3 may carry tongues instead'ot' grooves. V r

The centralbody section or in fact its main central portion may be removed by imparting to it movement in one direction. In fact the sections i may be removed with the main part of the body section at the same time. After the main part of the body e V t bottom, while stretchlng, thereby making a section singly, or together with the sections 4 are removed, theoutermost side sections may be moved toward each other, allow ng .the entire stretcher to be easily removed from th'ehlde. The sections of the stretcher areprovided wlth kerfs or finger engaging recesses 9, 10 and 11, by engaging the linger in any one of them, the section which carries the'keris or recesses may be extracted,

allowing the entire stretcher to be easily .In this form of the invention, the side edges of the central body section have metal strips 14- fastened therein in any suitable manner,

either forced or pressed into the section, or

may be riveted centrally of the section "as shown at 15, so as to prevent movement of the metal strips. I edges of the side sections are provided with grooves 16 to slidably. receive the metal strips 14, so that the side sections maybe connected to the central or body section.

Like'tlie sections in Figures 1, 2 and 3, the

The adjacent or inner central body section 12 and the two side sections 13 are tapered in the same general direction, or wedge-shaped as shown, so that by the removal-0t. either one ot the sections, the .stretchercanbe removed from the hide or skin. The corresponding ends of the sections 12 and 18 are provided with keri's or finger engaging'recesses 17 and 18,,by which either one of the sectionsmay be slidably removed from the stretcher; 1" t 'By means of the dovetailed tongue and groove connections between the sections, or

by ineans oftheinetal strips engagingthe grooves, the stretcher is assured of stability and rigidity, and the tighter the sections are wedged in place, the greater the skin or hideca nbe stretched. r

It will be noted that the tail-piece of the hide orskin can be stretched stretcher comprises 'a'plurality of sections,

7 central front portion and the centralback portion, or the and since other sections may be added, it'is obvious that any size animal skin-. 01?- hide can be easily stretched,

Another advantage cl erally 'or the full length from the head stretcher. Furthermorethe skin or hide'i's tensioned uniformly :tronr the top to the limited size and shape for eachfii'ur. In

Figures land 2'it will be observed that the fur, whichis stretched,- is tacked or'othen wise-secured at15 and 16 at the top, base and center, at the front and back adjacent the base, which is not possible "with stretchersnow in practical use.

In Fi ures the body of the" stretcher,

which comprises the three sections similar to'12 and .13 in Figure 1, has semi-circular pieces 1? fastened to the remote'outercdge s of the body of the stretcher by means or" aimed for this wood structure'over the metal stretchers, is that it stretches the skin or hidesid'ewise or lat 7 metal strips 18, similar to the strips 14-, and

which are fastened in a manner similar to".

the fastening of the strips: 14;. By means of these semi-circular pieces 17 the hide" or skin can be stretched in circular form. In other words the circular piecesl'? "are.

7 placed inside the skin, then the sections may be connected to the circular pieces,

after which the central. wedgeiQ may be in a rectangular formation, orisubstantially' so'JIt'is immaterial, how thesections are joined, 7 groovech-or whether they are connectedby whether they are, tongue "and 1 just so long as it is possible to slide the sec tions together, for the purpose of obtaininga Wedging action, and thereby gradually stretch the skin or hide.

The invention having been set forth, What is claimed is Ahide stretcher comprising a central body member longitudinally tapered to provide a Wedge, the longitudinal edges of said body member having clove-tailed grooves,inter1ne diate longitudinallytapered Wedge strips disposed on each side of the central body member, each of said strips having dove-tailed tongues projecting from their longitudinal edges, the inner tongue of each strip being adapted to enter the adjacent groove of the central body member, and outer longitudinally tapered Wedge strips disposed adja? cent the outer edge of the intermediate strips, each or said outer vWedge strips having a dove-tailed groove in its inner longitudinal edge adapted to receive the tongue of the adjacent intermediate strip, the cen tral, intermediate and outer strips having their tapered end portions extending in the same direction whereby the outer Wedge strips may be adjusted relative to or with the intermediate strips.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix 30 my signature. 

